Smorgasboarder_16_March-2013

The place I am writing about is
Red Island – known to the locals as ‘Pulau
Merah’. Red Island is situated a few bays west
of the famous G-land - one of the longest,
heaviest most perfect waves in the world - and
is accessible from the ferry port in Bali of
Gilimanuk. It’s surrounded by lush green hills
and clear blue water with unusual (for this
area) white sand covering the shore. It’s one of
those rare places that cater for all ability levels
of surfers from learners to pros. Red Island has
something for everyone.
In the corner of the bay, under a towering big
dome-like island, is a mechanical left and right
A-frame that breaks on all available swell,
and on average breaks in the 2-4ft range every
day. Further down the beach is more subject to
the south swells and shifty beachies break on
average between 3-5ft on most days.
On solid swell, the A-frame in the corner turns
into a long, left-hand point style wave, with big
walls, great for practicing multiple cutbacks
with the odd barrel section, whilst further down
the beach turns into massive peaky mountains
of craziness. Most days you find yourself trying
to count how many waves you‘ve caught in
the corner, whilst the right breaks into a user
friendly deep channel the left runs down the
beach and you find yourself completing many a
runaround to the easy ‘drift out’ in the channel.
Between surf sessions the guides can whip out
the Zodiak and take you fishing, snorkelling or
spearfishing around the nearby islands - often
pulling up to a secluded bay and cooking your
catch up on a ‘Indostyle’ BBQ.
Red Island really is paradise, but unfortunately
there is one catch… And it’s a big one.
Beneath the beautifully green, protected
mountains lies one of the biggest gold deposits
in the world. Whilst it’s debatable whether this
is a good thing or a bad thing for the locals of
the area, one thing is for sure that it’s a major
threat to the environment. Whilst the area
comes under a ‘protected forest’ status similar
to our National Park status, there are efforts
under way by mining interests to have these
changed from ‘Protected’ to ‘Production’, which
would see the area turned into an open cut
mine, with a port terminal constructed in an
adjacent bay, which would have ships running
through Red Island, the pristine waters at
G-land and possibly Bali.
The greater majority of locals in the area are
opposed to the idea of an open cut mine, as
it would devastate local water resources,
which they rely on for agricultural and fishing
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SMORGaSBOaRDeR | mar/apr 2013